Donald Trump to not impose new tariffs on Chinese goods

Donald Trump

China on Saturday said that US President Donald Trump has agreed to not impose further tariffs on Chinese exports.

According to news agency Xinhua, the decision was taken during the talks between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G -20 Summit in Osaka. Beijing and Washington have decided to declare a "ceasefire in their global trade war", the state-run news agency reported.

"(They) agreed that China and the United States should resume economic and trade discussions on the basis of equality and mutual respect," said the report, carried on their website on Saturday.

During their first meet after talks to end the trade war collapsed in May, Trump and Xi decided to hold reach a truce amidst the ongoing trade conflict between the two countries, saying dialogue is better than friction and confrontation.

"I will say that this can be a very productive meeting and I think we can go on to do something that will be truly monumental," Trump said at the start of talks with President Xi.

"But one basic fact remains unchanged -- China and the US benefit from cooperation and lose in a confrontation," Xi said, adding, "Cooperation and dialogue are better than friction and confrontation."

Last month, the US President had imposed tariffs on USD 250 billion of Chinese imports and threatened to extend those to another USD 300 billion of goods, effectively everything China exports to the United States. China retaliated with tariffs on US imports.

Trade tensions between the two countries began when Trump said "very unfair" trade practices were undertaken by China against the US.

Extensive trade talks between Washington and Beijing began following a Trump-Xi meeting in November 2018 at the G20 in Argentina but unexpectedly collapsed in May, with both sides blaming one another.

President Donald Trump on Saturday said that Washington is open to a "historic" trade deal with China. He met President Xi Jinping who called for "cooperation and dialogue". "It would be historic if we could do a fair trade deal," Trump said at the start of the high-stakes meeting to thrash out a tariff war between the world's top two economies.

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